Children's Television Characters

Do You Try to Keep Characters and Logos Out of Baby's Sight?

Elmo, Dora, Mickey and Pooh – the characters that appear on our boob tubes are often found running around the playground too. Try as we might to shield our innocent children from the images available on cable television, network TV commercials and online media, just take a walk outside and you are sure to be bombarded by characters and logos that look like they jumped right off the screen.

According to the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, marketing directly to children has increased from $100 million in 1983 to more than $17 billion today. By the age of six months, a baby can form a mental image of a corporate logo or mascot, making them able to request those brands by the time they can speak. While wooden toys have increased in popularity due to their safer manufacturing processes, they have not outweighed the popularity of character-driven choices that flood the market. Do you try to shield your lil ones from commercial characters and logos?

By signing up, I agree to the Terms and to receive emails from POPSUGAR.

5 years

Nope. I adore how much my kids loved Elmo, Cookie, Mickey, Bob the Builder, etc. The joy on their face when they got to put clothes on that had their favorite character was priceless and lit up my face just as much as theirs.
Marketing's only going to go overboard if people buy it. If it doesn't sell, they're going to take it away. Personally, I'm happy to buy a ton of stuff with characters on it, and love seeing it on other kids too.

I wouldn't do my nursery with them, except maybe classic pooh, but I really don't see the harm with moderation. I like disney, i liked it as a kid, and I like it now. Toys and clothing are going to be decorated with something whether it be flowers, trucks, or a character (although i really dislike the ones where they have the giant screen prints that peel off after the first washing, so we don't buy those kind) so why is it such a big deal to like them?
I do think marketing to children with characters, especially disney, has gone totally overboard - think the bags of fruit, but overall I don't think its the end of the world. We had toys and stationary and stuffed animals of the characters and movies we liked, we went to disney, and we watched other cartoons. None of my siblings, nor my daughter who is nearly 2, begged for something just because it has her favorite character on it. We were more apt to go for things of colors that pleased us. My daughter has been a huge fan of the new Tinkerbell since we bought her the dvd, and I don't mind it. It's a good story about being happy with who you are and working to be better in yourself. We just don't buy character things when they are drastically more expensive then the other. A good example is tooth paste. Most of the childrens tooth paste with characters on them are small tubes for 3.98. We buy plain aquafresh becuase its tube is 3x bigger, and only 1.88.
We just buy what we need and want for toys and clothing and things regardless of what is on them, but we don't single anything out negatively or positively.

Usually the clothes and sneakers with characters are crap but if my kids wanted them I wouldn't say no. As for toys and tv shows I don't really see the harm. I remember dying to go to Disney World when I was a kid - so this character thing isn't all that new. We are reasonably close to Sesame Place - my kids absolutely LOVE the characters.
@GregS - isn't wearing a shirt with Gap kind of the same as wearing a shirt with Mickey? Still advertising, just in a different way.

I definitely don't agree with putting characters and logos on baby clothing/ toys. Until they are old enough to understand who it is and what they like, no characters. my child is not a walking advertisement.

I'm not big on characters for nurseries or bedrooms. Not really on clothes either. If my daughter really wanted clothes with a character on it then I wouldn't deny her, but I don't buy them for her. As for T.V., we rarely watch it, maybe 30 min. a day at the most (while she's awake anyways), so she isn't really familiar with the characters yet!

I don't mind the characters on kid's clothing. I strongly object to advertising, however. That's why I don't buy anything from Abercrombie and other like stores (Gap, Hilfiger, etc). If they want me to wear their logos, they can pay ME to wear their clothing.

I personally don't like clothes with cartoon characters on them but I have no problem with toys and such. I did buy some light up Little Mermaid sneakers that fell apart after a month on my 4 year old's feet. I think part of the problem is that the clothes and stuff are made cheaply.

No, I don't shield my kids from commercial characters. I even enjoy some of them myself. I have on occasion steared them to the ones I like also so that I don't go crazy watching something I can't stand but what is the harm in that. No Barney for our house....so annoying!